Angela's 270 tank thread

[Angela Short]

I am gonna post some pics of the monster and the planned layout. Any input and advise is welcome! 1st off this thing is huge! The extra 6" made it a lot taller than I visualized it to be. It stands 6'6" tall. I ordered a 50 long sump but GC's was out of stock the day of pickup so sent a 65 long instead which was nice of them.

This is still pulled away from the wall for easier access working on the plumbing.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0641.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0639.jpg

It took 6 guys all they had to move it about 15 feet off the truck backed up almost in the door. Its 84 long x 24 wide x 31 tall and VERY heavy!

this is the holes in the bottom. I wanted it all to be plumbed from underneat so the tank can hug the wall real tight.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0649.jpg

This is the layout and sizes of the closed loop if you can read it... 1.5" drain in the center back wall and 8 1"returns. 4 in front to push water up over the rocks angled to the overflows and 4 in the back to push water to the front of the tank. A Oceansmotion 4 way will give the alternating flow. The back 4 ports will push opposite the front 4 to make a rolling of the water kinda in a circular pattern to keep all deitrus flowing up to the overflows. I am not looking for caotic random flow, more of a keep the tank clean flow pattern. I am stearing away from SPS and going more LPS/softies anyways.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/8671b95a.jpg

I caulked all the joints in the stand and am going to paint with a heavy duty paint to try and somewhat contain any spills. More to come as it progresses.

[reefnetworth]

SWEEEEET!!! I LOVE IT!!! i live in Nashville, youre right out the back door. can i come see it? JKA, really nice, i wished my pre-numptual had a reef clause! santa claus (me) but no reef clause. REEF-ON!!!

[ct_vol]

Made on 7/13 eh??? That means you can add water in a week or so... :) I bet its killing you... Do you have most of the plumbing and equipment already??? Looks like a sweet setup... Look forward to seeing it in action...

[TitansFan]

wow that thing looks beautiful on that stand! The extra height adds alot to the dramatic look of it. I assume then all the overflow holes lined up fine then?

[Angela Short]

Yea you have to wait 4 weeks for a 31 tall to add water. My 5 year old starts kindergarten this month about the time I will be getting geared up with the swap over. That will help only having 2 under foot instead of three :lol: I have all my union joints and the bulkheads from GC's ( they are real heavy duty nice! ) and am planning on pluming it and just closing off the 5 main branches going from the OM till I can afford to get it!! I dropped almost $150 on just plumbing alone not including the OM.... So my honey it won't cost much to upgrade was a understatement.

I am planning 2 175 watt MH's and 2 250 watt MH's alternating them. All 10K for the depth penetration. The top has 4 sections designed to have each buld unobstructed. I am also planning 4 VHO's for actinic suplimentation.

I have 150 lbs of rock and picking up another 150 lbs at the swap so hopefully it will be enouph.

All the litle bits and peices are really adding up. I need to sell a ton of fraggs Saturday at the swap! Everyone come buy my fraggs!! :lol:

[Angela Short]

Titan, we haven't drilled them yet. 2 guys had to leave by 3 and the holes were not done so we are gonna have to pull it off to drill them in the top and put it back on again. Poor planning on my part :(.

[gflat65]

Be sure to photo-document the progress. That's a lot of holes. Can't wait to see the finished goods:).

[SRT80]

That stand and canopy is really nice. Angela, are you planning on selling your 80 bow or keeping it?

Steve

[Ridgeline]

who made the stand and canopy?

[foggy54]

Very nice, You and your family will enjoy this for many years to come......

[platax88]

That is beautiful! i am sooo jeleous! :) enjoy it and good luck! You definately have a dream tank!

[VikeBron]

Angela,
It looks awsome! I wish I would have gone 30+ on height. I want a 1000gal plus now. Good luck putting it together. It is a blast. Oh, and as far as what you will spend, DON'T KEEP TRACK. I stopped keeping track at 15k. :)
Steve

[reefer5060]

awesome !!!!!!!!!!! You need to put a sign in your yeard saying thompson station aquarium admission 2$ lol

[Angela Short]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. My dad made the stand/canopy but only had the front of the tanks support screwed onto the cabinet. A big no no for a stands so I had to go in and beef up the support system but he had never built a stand or understood the weight it will be holding.

I traded the 80 for this tank in a round about way so its already sold and paid for. They are just paitently waiting on me to get my stuff out.

I planned on this being my last tank ( my hubby hopes! ) so I am glad I ordered the extra tall now that its up. The viewing area is real open and nice. I am sure it will give many years of service. Cory is pretty excited about getting it going and my kids just want to get in it for the "kids in the tank shot"

I do have a ton of holes but I will never have to worry about flow issues! In the end I think it will be well worth the extra $$ to have them all installed. Especially to not have to clean power heads ever again!

[spjeff69]

Is the stand and hood from GC as well? I really like the color.

Looks good, be sure to keep us updated.

[Angela Short]

Amen to not keeping track. We would question our sanity if we all knew how much cash was invested in our little hobby!

Stand and canopy are home made out of oak with red mahogony stain and satin finish.

The extra tall tank will be a real bear to ever have to get in but its wow wee to look at. Its like you are eye level and not having to bend over to peek in at them. I plan on putting everything in its place and leaving it alone in this tank to grow. The top is just way to heavy and awkwerd (:lol: sp?) to take off to tinker with the corals the way I do now.I may set up a zoa dominent tank to be able to tinker with fraggs to keep my hands wet. I have a problem leaving things alone.

[foggy54]

Angela, did you stain a 4 foot ladder to match your new set up?
:lmao:

[Angela Short]

:lol:

[chris205]

Man your dad did a great job on that stand and hood! Tank is huge!!! I love it. Makes my 180 seem average in size.

[RevHtree]

WOW! Your dad did that stand and canopy? That is very nice!!

[fishdoc11]

It looks great Angela:D

Looking forward to following the progress.

Chris

[eyebedam]

Awesome Awesome Awesome. Did I say Awesome! :spin3:

[CKreef]

Are you going to paint the back? Are you going to cover the overflows?

[SRT80]

You're just gonna have to buy your kids scuba suits and let them do the rearranging of corals for you.... :lol:

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7868558#post7868558 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Angela Short
Amen to not keeping track. We would question our sanity if we all knew how much cash was invested in our little hobby!

Stand and canopy are home made out of oak with red mahogony stain and satin finish.

The extra tall tank will be a real bear to ever have to get in but its wow wee to look at. Its like you are eye level and not having to bend over to peek in at them. I plan on putting everything in its place and leaving it alone in this tank to grow. The top is just way to heavy and awkwerd (:lol: sp?) to take off to tinker with the corals the way I do now.I may set up a zoa dominent tank to be able to tinker with fraggs to keep my hands wet. I have a problem leaving things alone.

[Angela Short]

yes paint and yes have the overflow covers. Thats funny srt 80!

[j_a_wickstrom]

Very nice, Angela. And I've very jealous!

[foggy54]

Any new pictures Angela?

[TitansFan]

She will probably have some after the month that it will take filling that thing with water lol.

[Angela Short]

Started filling it with water last night and so far its abour 6" deep! It will take about 3 days to fill with my RO/DI running full steam. I added a extra 25' of tubing so I can just string my line directly from the kitchen RO/di down stairs to the tank. A lot easier than carrying 54 tripps with a 5 gallon water jug!
I am still working on the overflows and sump but figured I have time while the tank fills.....so slowley. I did take some real cute pics of 2 little stink butt fishies playing in my 6 inches of water. I had to steralize them before I put them in for a pic but they were promised they could get in before I started filling it and I hated to not let them. Pics to come whenever my home PC is over its viruse :(. It needs to go to the doctor.

[chris205]

Yeah Angela, it took 3 to 4 days to fill my 180 and sump up with
RO/DI. Be patient. HA HA!

chris205

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7946042#post7946042 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Angela Short
I did take some real cute pics of 2 little stink butt fishies playing in my 6 inches of water. I had to steralize them before I put them in for a pic but they were promised they could get in before I started filling it and I hated to not let them. Pics to come whenever my home PC is over its viruse :(. It needs to go to the doctor.


:lol: I look forward to seeing the pics! What was the sterilizing procedure? Did you QT in hypo? Are stink butt fishies reef safe?


:lmao:

[Angela Short]

The filling with straight RO/DI is going way slower than I had hoped for. I have about a little over half the tank full and added 3 50 gallon bags of salt and am getting a SG reading of 1.029 so I say about 130 gallons is what I have in there so far. I planned on only filling it 3/4th full to make aquscaping a little easier and filling a few 50 gallon trash cans full to be aging to finnish filling tank after aquscaping is compleated. My RO is spent. I started with 1 TDS on OLD resin and I am sitting at 6 TDS tonight. I just hated to put new media in to only burn it all up, and I can't seem to find my replacement media also! Here are a few new pics....

Here is the water going in (exciting I know) It was filling pretty fast but now its a very slow trickle. I just backflushed my RO membrane so hopefully that will help. Tonight at 1 AM it will have been running for 72 straight hours and will need another 48 to get the job done it look like. Sssslllloooowwwwer than I had hoped. Its a 120 gall a day but thats at peak preformance.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0700.jpg

And now for some cute pics of my girls, AKA stink butt fishies :). I told them they could get in mommies tank and pretend they were fish (empty) but I decided to go ahead and start filling it late the other night and just forego the kid in the tank pics. They were so disapointed when I told them they couldn't now that water was in I decided to let them really swim! I just let them play in there kiddie pool awhile to get somewhat clean, hosed them off, towel dried and made them wear flip flops to the tank to be lifted in. I tried to make them as clean as possiable but figured they can't be as bad as me keeping my compleate arm in the 80 every few days tinkering! At least I washed them off first! A memory they will love I am sure!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2566.jpg


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2568.jpg


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2569.jpg


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2582.jpg

I didn't put the baby in because the water was freezing and the whole diper thing. It could have been some instant ammonia for a kick start for my bio though! :)

[SRT80]

Like I said, when you need to add or remove corals, there's your help.....

Steve

[Angela Short]

Now to answer some questions I know will be asked :). The big 1.5" pipe in the back is not going to be that tall. This is a quick fix to get water started going in while I work on the plumbing underneath the tank. I also just plugged the 8 return bulkheads with a screw in cap and tape. When I get it all sealed up under the tank I will just unscrew the drain pipe, cut it off shorted and install the strainer for the closed loop. Same for the retuns, after they get sealed up underneath I will add the 45's and 90's for my flow pattern. The 4 return outlets in the back will have a 6-8" tall pipe added and a 90 on the end pushing the water foward and the front 4 retun outlets will have 45's only peeking just above the sandbed pushing the water up and over the rocks towards the overflows.
I hate the drain in the center is so big and obviouse as I really wanted to leave the sandbed open in the center of the tank but will have to alter aquascapping plans to accomidate for hiding the pipe.

[fishdoc11]

Now that's a tank!...with stink butt fishies:lol:

[dishray]

Wow , You just scored some Coolest Mom points.......I hope those Green Stinkers dont out grow that tank too fast....

w

[pitbullpooch]

awsome set up. your dad did a great job on the stand and canopy. now i know where to go for my frags once you get it established since you live right around the corner lol

[Angela Short]

:rollface: The 5 year old is starting kindergarden next week so she is already growing to fast! :rollface:

But it will give me more time for tank tinkering! :lol:

[Angela Short]

Hey pitbull, you are the one I was talkin to about my canopy!? Cool, come down anytime. I think I am just gonna order reflecters for the VHO Actinics. My 4 MH's all have reflecters already and not fool with paint. Such a PITB to paint, I still have paint in my hair from the inside of the stand!

[gflat65]

When are you puttign sand in? We can hook up to get it to you sometime soon if you plan to add it soon. You might want to wait until you have the plumbiong stuff inside the tank, though, as the sand might get in the threads and cause problems.

[Angela Short]

thats what I was planning Gary. I may come up and get it tommorow though if thats fine.

[foggy54]

Are you sure they aren't juvenile mermaids...............

[Angela Short]

They actually did sing the theam song to The Little Mermaid while they splashed around! One of there favorites right now :lol:

[ct_vol]

They look a little cold in the second pic Angela... lol Still adorable though... :) Looks like its coming along nicely...

[Fanof49ASU]

Who built the tank?

Great pics!!!

[platax88]

Are stink butt fishies reef safe? will two get along?

I am surprised you did not quaranteen them! :D

[Angela Short]

Glass cages built the tank and they get along swimmingly unless they haven't had a nap! :lol:
I plan on hypoing the 80 and everyone in it before they go in the big tank (- the rock and sand) just to be 100% sure ick is never introduced. The PB has been flashing alot and I am suspisiouse he is harboring it in low amounts unseen. All my other guys have lived through a bad ick outbreak last year so they have some aquired imunity I am sure but just to be 100% I am going to hypo evereyone and let the 270 sit fallow for 4 weeks. I have 5 new fish in hypo now waiting on the day they can be released, the fish in the 80 will go through hypo and any and all newcommers will have the same treat.
A flame angel and a school of anthias is the only other kinda big fish I want so hopefully just 2 more rounds of QTing and the tank will be stocked.

[Angela Short]

For anyone interested on my fish list, I have already....
thease guys are in hypo right now:
Small sailfin tang
Blue spotted Kole tang ( he is way cool)
2 tiny yellow gobies
fridmani dottyback who is way beautiful!

1 Pair of clowns (onyx and ocelaris mates)
Lawn mower blennie
royal gramma
mandarin
luboles wrass (sp?)
powder blue tang
1 anthia

I have a yellow tang that looks 100% better than he did when I first got him. He "may" make the cut but more than likely be traded after he fattens up for a differant fish. Maybe a scribbled rabbit. I just hate to waste the bio on a fish I am not real crazy about.
I also have a nice baby GSM clown pair but the lady already attacks my hand now if I am in her tank so they may stay in my 29 zoa domminet tank I am planning. I hate to have her bully everyone from a whole 1/2 the tank perameter. Especially with the mean PB tang already.

I want to add a flame angle and a school of anthias and a few fairy wrasses to round it out. I am thinking about getting a ton of those tiny gobies to watch peeking around the rocks. They are so cute and take up so little bio. I don't think anyone on my list will eat them.

[gflat65]

On the maroon, mine has never been aggressive towards other fish unless they mingled too long around her anemones. She likes tasting me, but few issues with other fish.

[fishdoc11]

Have you researched hypo for pods and such Angela for when you do your rock and sand? From what I understand they don't do too well with that...I could be wrong.

Chris

[TitansFan]

Yah, I thought you had told me you were not going to hypo the 80 with the rock in it? The hypo like Chris, mentioned would kill pods and more important the bacteria. It could turn that rock into basic brand new base rock. Starting the tank off with all the fish you have mentioned you will needs the bacteria. Water changes on that monster tank will be fun. Have you decided on a skimmer?

The kids look great! I knew you had to do the kids in the tank shot. I think its required on all new large tank setups. Its good to read that you did a proper acclimation for them. I can't wait to come over and see them with snorkles and algea scrapers inside cleaning the tank. They look just like their mom.

[CKreef]

Angela my maroon is just as mean as yours to my hand but she has never even chases off a fish. I think they would be fine in the tank as long as the other clowns were far enough away

[platax88]

Hey Angela! ill take that yellow tang off your hands in a few weeks. I was planning on getting one, but prefer one already in captivity. Let me know if you want to sell it.

[Angela Short]

Oh no, sorry if I was confusing :). I am pulling all rock coral and cheato from the sump. Then siphoning out the old sand, then dropping the S.G. I am putting in PVC and fake plants/decore for hiding places in a bare tank. The lights will not even be on because they are going with the coral.
I have a huge bag of ceramic rings very well seasoned in the sump and my 3 large filter pads I haven't replaced in well over a month to keep the bio on them. I hope this will be enouph bio for the 6 fish going into hypo in the 80. If not I guess lots of water changes are in store.
I just hope enouph pods are not lingering in all the Power heads and cracks in the sump and filter pads to cause a ammonia spike when they die...I will just have to watch it. Thanks for looking out for me though. I am sure I will do some bone head boo boo and kill off all my stuff before this thing is done! :)

[Angela Short]

PM sent back platax88 :)

My little maroons will stay where ever there bubble coral takes them :) They have made a bubble coral there home. They had no choice, it was a lone coral I got as a freebi on some rock and dumped it in there little holding tank (other than zoos) and they went right to it. They are very cute in it. I kinda wanted to keep a pair of clowns in my zoa wanna be tank anyways especially with the ocilaris/onyx pair in the big one.

[crumbletop]

Angela,

when you do hypo, do you keep your salinity exactly at 1.009 or does it vary a little bit. Do you cycle the hypo tank before you put the fish in, or do you keep up with stuff like prime and water changes? How are you keeping your pH in line in the hypo tank?

I've done hypo with partial success and am wondering what your technique is. It sounds like you have a bunch of fish in hypo right now and they all sound like they are doing well.

Jack

[Angela Short]

I have done hypo in the past with great success. Once I get the SG down to 1.009, which takes a ton of fresh water, I just try to keep a eye on it daily. I sometimes accidentially go to 1.008 and let it creep back up a little but try to not let it swing up past 1.009. This is the acceptiable highest level you can go without a small chance of the free swimming stage to survive.
I only ever ran NO lights so the SG didn't swing much from heat and a daily small top off was all it took to keeo it low in the past. I use a little of my PH side of my 2 part mix to keep the PH up as I go down. The PH does bottom out with no buffers in the tank, mine did.

In the 80 I will have to moniter the SG 2-3 times a day as it has a spray function in the sump and it burns 1/2 gallon a day without lights running. I may just hook up a drip to keep it in check better.

The trick to being sucessfull is patience. You start counting your weeks "after" the last visiable spot disapears, not from the minute you hit 1.009, a common mistake. Hypo only kills the free swimming stage and not the encysted stage or while it is on the fish. So you have to wait out all the possiable stages of the cycle because you can have the bug at all 3 stages in the tank at once. ON the fish, free swimming and encysted on the substraite ready to release lots of new free swimmers.
It is very important not to cross contaminate water from the display back into the treatment tank via refractometers or hoses,nets and such. We are dealing with microscopic parasites so it can easily be done.
You can safely drop a fish straight in a cycled hypo tank as long as the PH matches (I did it) but when droping a new tank from regular SG down to hypo it is best to go slowley over a few days for the bio to adjust to lower Salinity and keep up more than the fish adjusting. I keep sponge filters in my sump at all times seasoned with bio (keeping the other tank stable right now) and I am hopeing my biorings and filter pads will be plenty of bio to keep the params in check in the 80.
A common misunderstanding in setting up a tank (hospital or other) is that if you use dirty water from a display you are cycled whicjh is just not so. The water is cycled when you put it in but has no bacteria mass to process all the waste the fish will be putting off in the new tank. In other words it doesn't have a biofilter established on the substraite, filterpads, aquarium walls ect, ect... The "dirty water" will add some bacteria to kick start your biofilter but is in no way a "cycled" tank ready for inhabitents. You will get a huge ammonia spike if this is how you set up a QT. If you are not ready with instant bio (ceramic rings, sponge filters....) you have to keep the tank from ever going in a cycle with daily water changes to keep ammonia down. OK I have to get buisy, sorry so long on the QT spill... :)

[crumbletop]

Thanks for the details. I am getting ready to start stocking more fish in my display and have been thinking about doing hypo on all new aquisitions as you are. I have already gone through letting the tank sit fallow (I went 6 weeks), and hypo for the fish. Not all of them made it through hypo, so I was wondering about some of the details. I pretty much did as you described, although I went though a monster cycle in the hypo tank. I used a biowheel that had been in my sump for about 6 weeks and I guess I must have dropped the salinity too fast for the bacteria to adjust.

[Angela Short]

I would say the bio wheel just didn't have enouph bacteria to support the fish load. The increased stress of ammonia will let all sorts of other bad things start happening with the fishes health. Sorry you lost some fish.
People who have bad luck with a QT ussually have a uncycled one they lost fish from. I need to put up a pic of my plastic decorated QT with the 5 fish in it, They are happy acting as if they were in the reef. To be honest I feel the blue spotted Kole may have been unable to thrive in the 80 if just dummped in. He was unbalivably shy and NEVER came out of his fake tree branch hole, even to eat for a few weeks practically. And him and the dottyback were the only fish in there in a spare bedroom, with no comotion going on. If he was out and saw me sneak in the room he would flee. He has adjusted and lets me look in at him all the time now. He was so timid I would bet he would have never taken to prepared foods in the 80 with the super intense lights, kids screamming in the room, and all the other fish putting him in his place and scareing him. He was very slow to take prepared food in his "safe" home anyways.
I had a flame waste away from that exact senario when I first started. It never left its hiding spot ever. It stayed in the same fake tree root hole as the tang lives now only that was "cool looking" in my reef wannabe tank way back then! :lol: It is saved for hiding spots in the QT now ;) He may have made it if knew then what I do now.
I really like those glass bio rings in a mesh baggie. Theyhave a lot more surface space than a bio wheel. And I have the sponges from a whisper HOB filter I use also that I keep in the sump. 2 of them filter pads from the sump and a peice of old dried out figi rock I had in the QT tank while a big ugly damsel helped seed it is all the bio in the 29 keeping the ammonia in check with the 5 in hypo now. 3 are tiny though and the other 2 are smallish for tangs.

[Angela Short]

Wow, this thing is gonna kill me! I have been working on this thing every night till 1-2 AM and am just now shutting down at 3 this night....morning. I had a burst of energy because I got sand and rock in tonight. I have added 250 lbs of sand and about 150 lbs live rock, 30 lbs home made cement rock and 25 lbs dry high rock. Sadly the rock is looking very sparse. I built up from the glass so it took a lot more to get any highth and the extra tall tank is burning up rock getting highth. I have about another 150 lbs of live to add tommorow and hopefully with some creative stacking and lots of epoxy it will be enouph. I am so over working on this thing its not even funny but I know it will be worth it after its all done.
Pics to come this weekend of the progress and me having to practically get in to aquascape this thing! :)

[platax88]

Keep at Angela... it will be worth all your hard work.

Have you though of maybe making a platform otu of PVC for the rock so you dont burn up so much rock that will just be burried. Make a platform just to give you the height on the back then stack as you normally would on the front to cover any PVC legs....

What kind of epoxy are you using? is it to glue the rocks together? Does it work? the "Two Little Fishies" epoxy i have SUCKS!

[Angela Short]

I wish I had of used some big PVC under the sand in hindsite because I have a ton of rock just burried. I went with a pretty deep sand bed to help get the sand dwellers up closer to the light as possiable.

I use tons of aquamend 2 part from home depo. Same as yours I think as far as texture. The trick is you have to really work it in a crack or something and hold it where you want it till it sets up which can be 10 mins or better with your arm killing you underwater. But it allows you to make cool spans in your rockwork.

[Fanof49ASU]

How deep of a sand bed did the 250 lbs give you?

[Angela Short]

5" or more but I had a ton of rock on the glass so it tookup a lot of sand space :)

[CKreef]

Time for pics Angela

[Angela Short]

The water is still so cloudy I am aquascaping blind :(. I even washed the sand and they say not to wash it to keep the tiny particals in there. Man it washed some foamy nasty out and it would have taken weeks to clear up.
I added the top 1-2 inches of my old sand yesterday so hopefully it will help settle all the cloudy particals out. I rinsed the old sand well with water from the 80 and I must say it was NASTY. DSB's are definetly septic tanks! But I like the look of them. I was afraid I may have rinsed out but I saw lots of little spag. worms and critters out in the sand last night.

[gflat65]

What are you doing to clear it up? It took almost a week for the 120 to clear up with three bags of southdown and some crushed coral. I used a HOB with a micron filter along with filterfloss in the sump just upstream from the return pump. I didn't think the filter floss would really do anything since the particulate is so small, but I pulled it several times and replaced and it always dripped white... I still have some of the foam in the sump stuck to walls.

[ocd_mariner]

Did you wash your sand before putting it in gflat?

Im about to dump a ton of sand in the tank, they say dont wash (and I really dont want to :p), but I'd rather spend a little time washing like Angela then getting a horrible mess that takes weeks to clean up.

[gflat65]

I washed the crushed coral, but not the Southdown. Southdown is so small that if you rinse it, you'll be left with very little:D. The foam comes from the Southdown, but I can live with it. With store bought sand (larger sized like the sugar sized, etc.), I always washed.

[techrach]

Angela,
sounds like your tank upgtade is going really well. Can't wait to see pic's.
I have a 75 gal and one day hope to have a big tank. I have the room I just want to be successful at the 75 gal first since this is my first tank.
keep us posted.

[ocd_mariner]

Here is an odd question:

150 is sitting on the stand. If I put sand in, then dribble the rodi water in, then mix the salt water..... is the water going to move through the sand bed enough to mix well?

[Angela Short]

I washed the SD in a big rubbermaid tub (40 gallon) I used the hose and rinced,stirred well and dumped the goopy water off like 5 times till it was realativly clear. I didn't seem to have much sand in the grass IMO. They say to leave the "dust" in but I also washed out some hunks of nasty grey clay. I feel the SD is small enouph without the dusty stuff left in to goop up the water.
Mine cleared up pretty well in 3 days. I added the top layer of my old sand over the new and it helped get the bacteria going all over it to weight it down so it doesn't sand storm as bad. Bed at 3:30 AM last night again but 95% of coral is in place. This is the third day without light so I am running my PC fixtures over the tank for a few hours just to give them hope that there food source is comming. Hopefully lights will be up and running tonight. I need a nap right now though!!

[ocd_mariner]

Angela -

Thanks for the idea of hooking the RO/DI straight to the tank. I filled 2 32 gallon trash cans with water. Then laziness kicked in. Flash forward one hour, with 100 feet of 1/4" tubing draped from the garage to the back room taped to random door frames throughout the house to discourage curious kitties.

My wife is gonna flip when she wakes up :p (she works night shift at the hospital).

[Pickupman66]

OCD>>> LMAO!!!!! I can so see that....

[Angela Short]

:lol: Thats funny! Yea, you can run as much length as you need to!
Well, small flood tonight. I forgot I hadn't hooked up a return under the tank for the sump return in one of the overflows. I was not sure wether I would use 2 seperate pumps or one and split the return yet so I had one not connected yet. When I fired up the sump to watch my handywork in progress I was very unpleasently surprised to the sound of a flood. The main problem is I still am waiting on some lockline to get here to cap the returns permantly. I have the one I was using to get my water from the sump to the tank temporarily glued up with PVC is why I never thought of the other return in limbo just being a open tube with no plug in the bottom!! I broke down tonight and mixed up about 40 gallons of SW from the tap to finnally have enouph water to get the sump and overflows working. My poor RO is wore out and barely working.
All 4 of my power strips got seriously flooded and tripped both GFCIs. Hope they are not ruined :(.

[techrach]

Ouch! Hope all turns out OK.

[Angela Short]

OK very sad news now. I have my sump/overflows going. They still need a little tweeking as they are "flushing" a little and need more air I think. But with the increased flow and some makeshift lights going I noticed some of my favorite corals are dying. The tissue is just slouphing off my ORA green serisomethings :( and my hydrophra thingy. My biggest milli is not looking so hot and my huge green cap is loosing tissue as well. It looks like most of my favorite things are gonners!
I don't know what would have affected them all so adversly. They were in a huge rubbermaid with flow from a power head since Wed. and was put in the big tank late Thursday night. The PH dipped a little low in the rubbermaid is the only param out of whack but the tank is setting on 8 right now.
I wonder if a temp difference could cause such wide spread losses? The rubbermaid holding them was conciderably warmer with a small heater than the tank since my heaters in the sump were not being used yet. And for some reason all my hairy mushrooms which I have litterally chopped into 4 and 5's from one shroom at a time are all mealting really nasty. They are all but bullet proof I thought. I am afraid they are fouling the water so I added a big bag of carbon.
I guess its just wait and see what makes it now. I should have waited till the next day to add corals and let the temps be better matched but I got in a hurry and we all know only bad things happen fast in this hobby :(.

[gflat65]

Hate to hear that Angela. I have lost things to temp differences and not acclimating long enough when changing from one of my non chilled tanks to the main display. Let me know what you lose and if I have it, you will too;).

[Angela Short]

Thanks Gary! You need to go to bed! As do I. I just can't do things during the day with the 3 kidds under foot so I just went ahead and started dumping it all in last night late. Late at night is the only time I can be productive.
Well, I hear the baby up so I guess my bed time will just have to wait! She thinks its play time around 3-4 the last few nights :(.

[gflat65]

That's cause momma is playing at 3-4 each night:). I was up late last night. My decrepit old bag of bones is kicking me now...

[fishdoc11]

Let me know when you will be out this way Angela. We can do a few frags for a haircut sort of thing;)
Chris

[Angela Short]

I will definetly have to take you up on that now!
Lights are running and pics to come. But yet again more problems :( My 250 MH's (homemade job from east TN Charles) are firing and burning but they blow the power strip within 3-4 mins... Totally fried them. I tried another power strip thinking all my lights were overloading the one strip so I just plugged the 2 250's in and within the same 3-4 in time frame they just poof killed the new strip. The light on the strip that says "if this is on the strip is unusable, dead, fried" light was flicked on both of them and they will not re-set. Thats a bummer they were brand new. I hope he will log on to check PMs and help me trouble shoot the problem. Anyone with ballast experience have a clue?

[fishdoc11]

You might want to PM John(foggy54).

[Angela Short]

Here are the updated pics!

The daunting task of putting all that rock and sand in. I started this at about 11:00 PM last monday night.... You can see my closed loop comming from the bottom in the tank. Only problem is my tank hugges the wall so tight now (which I wanted) I can hardly fish the light cords under the tank from the top!


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2593.jpg


Afew pics of me working on the rockscape the next night. I hated the look of the rim my dad designed on the tank stand but am gratefull now! This was a life saver to use as a walking ledge back and forth.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2596.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2595.jpg

My left front closed loop pipe. The front pipes were easy to hide but the back ones still need some work.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2599.jpg

And a pic of one of the center back returns, YES right below the DEAD acro. Man when they go they go fast :(

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2600.jpg

[Angela Short]

and finnally the finished (somewhat) product...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2607.jpg


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2604.jpg


This is the 80 the night before I cut it all out. I had already taken a lot of things downstairs to a holding tank weeks before so it was even FULLER if you can belive it! See why I needed a bigger tank :). I will miss the bowfront look for sure.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/86dc6412.jpg

[Angela Short]

And just a pic of a real cool brain I got from greystreet ( sorry Gary ;) you were to slow ) When Casy says his pics do not do justice he is not kidding! This is right after I put him in tonight ( after temp and water aclimating him!! )

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2609.jpg

And now more of the casulties :( I am thinking it may have been the sudden temp change or just the fact I didn't aclimate very well at all but I had "cut and dumped all the time in the past :(. But I always did at least temp acclimate the corals so all I can figure is the temp differance being to much of a shock. Who knows because all my mushrooms were mealting in the holding tub before the move :(.

Cap recession, is it a gonner? And 2 heads of my orange candycane in the upper corner of the pic died.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2602.jpg

Tissue slowley going from base up, should I cut the good off?

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2610.jpg

My green milli that is yellow now but still extending polyps a dab... And I passed on the free frag of this at the critter cause I "HAD" one. Had was right :( It may color back up though..
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/100_2603.jpg

And a milli fell on a bubble overnight and seems to have killed the bubble and milli both in sections. And both my ORA green serithings are all but the tiniest tips of flesh dead as well as all my big hairy mushrooms which are fouling the water pretty bad.

All in all I am pretty dissapointed I lost stuff but all that I lost came from fellow MTRC members and can be replaced hopefully.

[pitbullpooch]

sorry to hear about the trouble with some of your corals. thats what sucks about switching over tanks or moving. but the tank is looking great. you did a great job on hiding the returns. its looking beautiful. good luck and dont fall in lol

[Fanof49ASU]

I think that I saw you at the Critter on Friday. I thought you looked familiar.

[gflat65]

So you got the big Lobo, huh... I wouldn't really have room for it, anyway, unless it went into the 125. The most recently set up tank is the fullest. Go figure. I liked that one because reewik and I got ours around the same time from EBay several years ago. Mine didn't make it through the crash I had from the bad RO unit last year. His is huge. Mine was only ever about a 1/4 that size...

Looks great Angela. How long did the tank run with water in it before adding things? I cycled the water in the 120 (no sand or rock ) for about two weeks before I finally got over the lazy bug and put some sand in it. I wonder if that might have made a difference. A week after adding the sand (and about three days after adding rock), all corals were somewhat temp acclimated (floated in a tupperware container, but not long enough for a true temp acclimation) and dropped in. No losses and actually everything looks better than it did, but I didn't move any sps into this tank (and we know they can be alot touchier than LPS and zoas). Keep us posted on the mille. I got a frag at the Critter since there were so many, but I've got a mini colony going too (it is more yellow than green, too).

[fishdoc11]

The tank is looking great Angela:thumbsup:

Sorry about your losses.....I agree that the temp change was probably a big thing.

The cap and mille could very well make a comeback....the pocci(?) looks like a goner to me but fragging or covering the receeding edge with superglue could help.

Chris

[Angela Short]

Thanks for the compliments! The poccilipora I may just frag up as it would be real hard to super glue all the branches.
The salt mixed in a bare tank 4-5 days or so. Everything looks fine except the stony SPS stuff and a few shrooms. Funny how it was hit or miss, so far the MP blue, blue tip acro and green slimmer are in perfect shape. Time will tell what all will survive I guess. I have tons of zoas and a few nice bigger peices of coral in the holding tanks I am holding out on putting in for obviouse reasons.

[AndynSarah]

The tank looks great. If you ever wanna get rid of that 80 let me know. lol. I love your brain. Ours looks much different than yours, even more so that now more of it is dying. I moved it this morning to lower light and lower flow and when i moved it pieces of it just floated off of it into the water. I think that with 2 peppermint shrimp it is just a matter of time until I have a skeleton left of it. Sorry about the small hi-jack. Waiting to see this tank in a few months or a year or so when everything is growing in and new is added to it. Great tank once again.
Andy

[TitansFan]

Awsome Angela!! You got that thing up alot faster than I thought you would. It always takes me soooo long to get things done. I just finished up the 120 and I am adding water now. The 240 is next on the list. One night this week after I get off work I would like to swing by on the way home. Pm/Call me when is good for you.

[servicky]

Awesome.... I love it when females get into my kinda hobbys.... awesome you did a great job... I wish my girlfriend would getinto reefkeeping.... Good luck with your tank... looks great...

[TitansFan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8025090#post8025090 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by servicky
Awesome.... I love it when females get into my kinda hobbys.... awesome you did a great job... I wish my girlfriend would getinto reefkeeping.... Good luck with your tank... looks great...

Yeah its great seeing a female in this hobby. I don't think Angela's husband thinks its so great though ;) I need to get my wife to spend more time with Angela. The wife has gotten involved though but not near the crazy obession I or Angela seems to have.

[reewik]

Angela do you know who that brain came from?.... Looking really good...

[SexiShrimp]

Looks great Angela!!!!! Maybe we can all have a pool party in it when it's all completed! :lol:

[Angela Short]

It came from greystreet. Yes it was yours ;)

[Angela Short]

I would like to have everyone over for a meeting when it fills in a little and all my tiny zoa colonies fill in he rockscape as planned. Anyone is welcome anytime though. I love company so no reef meeting is ever needed to stop by. Just knock on the door, I like the drop in company!! Just PM me for my # if anyone is ever down Spring Hill way and wants to see the death of me... I mean my tank.

[crumbletop]

Angela, any updates?

[Angela Short]

I wanted to update soon but hate to bump up without no exciting stuff! My fish all made it through the velvet oputbreak except a royal gramma and the wrass I think brought it in. So 2 fish is not bad for such a nasty disease! I am acclimating some fish for the 270 as we speak. It has set fallow for 5 weeks tommorow and I am so very tired of tanks every where!
Most all my stony things from the original move did not make it. Things I thought were OK started slowley receeding from the base up and pretty much had a 100% wipe out on all hard corals but zoas and softies are kickin it, naturally! I will post some pics soon. I got 3 huge colonies from Doodoobrown that are fine. So it was the bad aclimation that killed my other corals.

[Angela Short]

My zoa tank will be the tank to love after I get it going and it fills in thanks to all the cool fraggs from Steve today! I can't wait to get the fish out of it to get it going!!

[Angela Short]

My Oceans motions 4 way is here and I can't brag enouph on the customer service from the company! I sent a email with some questions and Paul called me within a hour to talk me through it in person. I was only expecting a email back. This is the 3rd time I have talked with him and he has been a huge help with layout and pump choices for my tank.

My sequence dart 3,600 gph pump is on its way from Premium Aquatics, another #1 company to do buisness with. I could have gotten a 6 month old dart from the selling forums cheaper but PA was wonderful with a issue I had last week so I choce to give them my buisness for the pump because they have great customer service.

I ordered a auto top off unit yesterday also so hopefully within a week I will have all the big tank set up behind me. I just went with a cheap ATO from the link in melvsreef homepage.

I only tell myself I am "almost done" We all know that is a lie and its never finished. As long as my hubby keeps beliving its almost done I am good! :lol:

But he is catching on its never done....

[crumbletop]

LOL, yeah -- it's never done :)

I like PA as well. I've ordered quite a bit of stuff from them lately as well. It'll be cool to see your tank when you get it all set up.

[jfolley67]

Angela, how is the tank doing???? Any updated pics as long as things are moving better. My tank is doing ok, but seems my red slime is back a bit. Going to do a water change and change some flow again. My big huge colt coral seems to be not doing so well, it was big and one of my originals. My zoos seem to do best. Once you get the tank back in check, let me know, I will try to share some things out of the tank for you.

[Angela Short]

I will try to get pics up when I get the closed loop going hopefully this weekend! I am having mild red slime due to low flow areas right now also.

[ocd_mariner]

Bump for new pics.

[Angela Short]

Just got finnished with a big water change! A little behind scheduel, suppose to be done on or about the first of November. I keep promising pics but its still just duck taped together, literally! Maybe I will post some pics of the way a reef is not suppose to be run! :lol: I did get my closed loop runnig and it is messing up the sand pretty bad in a few places. I am not real happy with the flow pattern either I designed but live and learn. Its all PVC so it can be modified when I have a Saturday to spare.

[turboex901]

angela, if you need a hand replumbing let me know, its what i did for a living for a long time and now for an even longer time ive been wholesaling the parts and fittings. i also work for free for friends :) wether you need tank plumbing parts or new faucets/toilets etc. you guys let me know.<~~~steve

[Angela Short]

Thanks for the offer turbo, my re-configuring would be small tweeks inside the tank with the direction of flow. Just getting to the outlets will take some major rock movement!

Here are a few pics of what I am talking about with everything just in limbo waiting on someone to get off there butt and finnish!

A look at what it looks like 99% of the time, doors open and all :lol: always needing to do something! Cory just wishes he would come home one day to find a finished tank.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0916.jpg

A close up of my "fancy" hood ventalation system....
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0918.jpg

A look where the auto top off will sit when it stops being a electrical fire hazzard, I wonder how many cords are too many.... :lol: FWIW I do have a dedicated 20 Amp circute and another almost dedicated 15 Amp. The lights alone take up 8 plugs. I really need to get this taken care of and on a board.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0920.jpg

And I might as well say I run skimmerless......Think this thing is working at peak preformance with so much gunk in the neck? :lol: My way underated AquaC180 does a pretty good job when its clean though.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0922.jpg

And a shot of the huge closed loop. My Oceans motions 4 way is split down 2 each outlet so its kinda like a 8 way. I used spaflex thinking it would be easier to plumb and more forgiving of getting just the right angle but it took up a ton of room! That stuff doesn't bend very well at all. And thank goodness for union joints! I have had to take the Whole closed loop off twice from a problem with my dart. The company fixed the problem right away though but a super pain. BTW, I love my Dart and it pumps great even splitting it down 8 ways!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0923.jpg

[Angela Short]

I will try to take some tank shots soon. It seriously needs a good cleaning and some re-arranging first. Once I got it so far it has just been on the back burner. I have to take the top off to do the re-aranging I want and that is a major deal. But would force me to address the electrical issue I guess.

Oh one more pic of my zoa dominent 29... Kinda
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0915.jpg
It's been like this for a few days now really begging me to put it back together. Procrastination is my middle name! :lol:

[danieljames]

lol..excellent pictures angela. That first one is beautiful. I can completely relate. The whole bottom level of your home could keep a hobbyist's interest for hours. I like the "practical approach" type feel down there. Very cool.

[Angela Short]

:lol: Yea Daniel and His girlfreind saw my shambles of a tank room a few weeks ago! I have tanks and reef stuff litterally everywhere. The basement is MY domaine :) And the kids toys.... That first shot shows where toys go when they are fighting over them, on top of the tank! A barn and 2 horses are up there in time out! :lol:

Oh and sometimes I can waste a hour just looking for my refractometer in all that mess! One day it will be all neat and I will not know what to do with my time!

[danieljames]

Put a kegerator and a decent flat screen down there...maybe a ping pong table, and you'll have one hell of a space....lol

[Angela Short]

But that would lure other people to "my" space ;) Can't have that!

[DMBillies]

Even with the mess you can see where it's headed... and that's quite enough. I just keep admiring the stand and hood... they are amazing. The rest will come together and I'm sure you'll be tinkering with it for eternity. That's what keeps this hobby interesting, right?

[fishdoc11]

I am sure it will look great when it's done. I bet it looks pretty nice inside the tank now.

FWIW I keep a couple of large gaseous dogs in my "man space" to keep others out;)

Chris

[Angela Short]

OK spent about 8 hrs on the tank Saturday re-working the flow pattern and aquascape. Cleaned out and organized my ecectrical issues from above and glued in tiny zoa fraggs everywhere. and still got my face all wet doing a good deep clean of the glass even after draining a lot of water from the tank. I have realized Yes I do need a bathing suit and goggles to do any work on the sand bed. It is definetly deeper than arm pit deep But I am pretty short :). I took tons of pics tonight. Here is why I say go with a TALL tank over a shorter one if at all possiable on a big tank. I think a long, thin tank with a big stand/canopy can look lost to the wood if you don't have enouph glass showing. This is JMO but I am just loving my tank and am bias in my opinions ;). It was conciderably higher to go taller but over the next 20 years I will be glad I did.

This section of wood was made to hide the side overflows you could see into on the original 180 (24 tall) I had the stand and canopy made for. This gives you an idea of how much better the extra 7" makes. I ordered a extra 7" to get the 31" tall tank and it added almost 100 gallons making it a 270ish and a bunch to the look of the tank. I think the tank is more in scale with the stand and canopy now....

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1014.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1016.jpg

[Angela Short]

Full tank...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1017.jpg

Left side....

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1019.jpg

Right side....

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1020.jpg

[Angela Short]

And a few looking down the tank shots....

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1025.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1004.jpg

and some random shots...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0983.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0982.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0975.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1011.jpg

[Angela Short]

One of the survivors from the near total stony crash...Pink with purple polyps birdsnest came through fine.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0977.jpg

My huge green milli died back about 75% but seems to be making a comeback from the tips... And the clown grew his tail back after the black ocillaris terrorized him till I banished him to the 29.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0971.jpg

My other 2 milies died back 50-60% and are still real browned out but look like they may be OK in the end..This is one of them...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0978.jpg

[Angela Short]

And a top down of that sweet purple cap in the pic above. It was real purple in doodoobrowns tank but turning more red under my 10K's... Still its gonna be nice in 6 months!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0979.jpg




Oh and if those ricordias touch the brain on the back side in the pic above will it hurt the brain? I hate to say it but I am out of room already!

Thanks to Doodoobrown for supplying me with 3 huge center peices awhile back. 2 big hydnophoras ( we know I can't spell) and a huge table top. Lets hope I have better luck with them conciderning my past history with stony things. :)

This is the green one...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1005.jpg

[Angela Short]

And this guy is going crazy. After lights go out he getts all funky and walks all over the reef in some crazy shapes trying to catch food :lol: I thought he was funny! Only his tips of the tenticals are touching.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0953.jpg

OK thats enouph pics! Sorry if you are on dial up!!!!

[Angela Short]

Well, one more... I did get my 29 zoa tank put together also but it will be in a different thread ;) Just one shot of what it came from with the empy tank and styrofoam holding tank shot from the top of the page..

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_1056.jpg

[fishdoc11]

Looks great Angela:D

[gflat65]

Looks great, Angela. That maroon and green Lobo has been around for a while. Eric and I bought ours at the same time. Mine, unfortunately didn't make it through the crash back in early 2005. That is a monster. I made the joke that I was looking for a 5000 gallon aquarium and apparently Jenn took me seriously. She said I need to be content with what I have:D.

[Angela Short]

Thanks guys! That brain is massive when he fully opens up! And he is always begging for food. My other green purple one I have had for 2 years and he is getting pretty big also but never extends feeding polyps. Sometimes just a very, very few but the other is always open for a meal.

[turboex901]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8591742#post8591742 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gflat65
...... She said I need to be content with what I have:D.

apparently its not just my wife that says that :) is a 1000 gallon really THAT unfeasible baby......:D

[Hurley12]

How did it go when you added the Naso did they leave him alone? He is awesome addition.

[Fanof49ASU]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/shortcory/000_0953.jpg

That is too funny!!!

[Angela Short]

It was so funny I wish I had a camera when I added the naso. The "tang bully trio" as I dubbed them harassed everyone in the tank then I added the huge naso who dwarfs the PB by a long shot. They instanly charged her and it was like a cartoon they fell all over thereselves stopping up short when they got close. I was cracking up! They backed up and re grouped and came again at her and was again freaked out by the size of the new fish in the tank. The sailfin and Kole made a few feeble attempts to show the naso they were boss from a safe distance but the real boss, the PBlue, didn't give up so easy. After about 30 minutes of getting his nerve built up (or the other fish lauphing at him ) he got brave enouph to make some close strikes at the naso but she whipped out her wepon and he knew he was in over his head. The naso is so mild natured she could care less and lets the PB keep his title as ruler of the tank but deep in her heart she knows she could take him out if need be :lol:.

So like a natural bully the PB takes his frustrations out on a tiny skunk clown who is no match for him. Just like human bullies always picking on the fish they know can't fight back and steering clear of the big fish. The clown has started hosting as a result of him chasing it every time it leaves the leather coral though so I guess thats a good thing.

Funniest thing was watching the 3 tangs be too afraid to approach the big naso close with there threats but a tiny 2" GSM clown terrorized the naso every time she drifted to close to the leather she calls home. She would dart right in and take a bite and drive the naso away. She has no fear when it comes to protecting her home. She attacked me many times cleaning her side of the tank this weekend :lol:.

Everyone gets along great now though but I think 4 big reef cows is enouph on my bio. Man they can poop a lot.

[Pickupman66]

Angela, I loved my naso. best tang I ever had. and yes talk aobut massive ammts of poop. they are also pacers. mine had a pattern from 1 end to the other. Very mild mannered unless provoked and then all it took was a little show of force and order was restored. btw, the tank looks incredible. Melanie cant get over the fact that it is 8 feet long (compared to 4 foot in my 75)!

[Angela Short]

Its actually 7'. I would have went with 8 but the stand was made for the old 180 so the only option I had was taller. That naso is so tame it eats flake right from my hand :) It chased my razor all day yesterday eating up all the film alage I scrapped off and I touched her many times :). She is so cool. (thanks RevHtree!)

[danieljames]

That pic of the serpent is amazing Angela. I'd love to see that in person. I see your texas holey rock is fitting in perfectly. I just purchased several more pieces for another i'm setting up. Coralline has grown very fast on the rocks i have.

ps: you should post that picture over in the photography forum.

[Pickupman66]

Had feeding they is so awesome. mine literally used to let me scratch its head!

[Brinkley]

Beautiful Tank! Angela , All your time and energy has certainly paid off. It will be amazing in a few more months time.



Brinkley

[Angela Short]

Thanks Brinkley! I ussually have a meeting in the spring at my house so you will have to come see how its filled in.
<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

[Grendal42]

LUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!